HOLLYWOOD – The Discovery Channel is teaming up with the Vatican to create an exorcism reality show.

HOLLYWOOD – The Discovery Channel is teaming up with the Vatican to create an exorcism reality show.

Pope Benedict XVI has greenlit a Discovery Channel reality show that will reconstruct cases of alleged hauntings and demonic possession investigated by the Catholic Church.

The show will include access to the Vatican’s case files and interviews with the organization’s top exorcists. The Pope himself, will appear in a few episodes, as he oversees the exorcisms.

The show will feature a lot of “behind the scenes” activities at the Vatican. The Priests (Bishops and Cardinals) that will be performing the exorcisms will meet and discuss each case.

“If you thought the Real Housewives of New Jersey was wild, wait until you see certified Exorcists arguing over how to get demons out of possessed people. Talk about fireworks!” said Elisabeth Helmers, a producer for The Exorcist Files.

Discovery is confident that the first season is will be a head-spinning success. The Catholic Church are allowing full-access to camera crews that will be accompanying exorcists as they do their work.

Discovery president Chester Willow said: “The Vatican is an extraordinarily hard place to get access to, but we explained we’re not going to try to tell people what to think… The work these folks do, and their conviction in their beliefs, make for fascinating stories. And they agreed to the deal, especially after we made a substantial donation to the Catholic Church.”

Of course there will be celebrity cameos and in the first six episodes Vatican priests will perform exorcisms on Lindsay Lohan and Mel Gibson. Neither of the stars have agreed to the exorcism, but there will be a Catholic intervention that will add a lot of spice to the show. “The Church is particularly excited to do an exorcism of Mel Gibson,” said Cardinal Chris Bantoni of Rome. “There’s going to be demons flying everywhere when we get done with him.”